Ask the Insiders Your Publishing Questions / NJRW 2012—p.1
General Setup of a Publishing House (may differ some from house to house; some departments may be combined)
Producing Your Book Selling Your Book
Editorial Publicity
Managing Editorial Advertising / Promotions
Production Editorial M Subsidiary N A IO R Rights
T K
C
E
U
Interior T
I
D
N
Design O G R
P Print Copyediting / Sales Proofreading
Online Cover Design Sales
Production / Digital Manufacturing Sales (print books & ebooks)
Julie Schroeder Designs BJG Publishing Services Fiction and Nonfiction General Trade Print and Eboooks Fiction and Nonfiction General Trade Print and Ebooks Book covers and interiors Editing proofreading and cold reading Promotion pieces: branding Facebook art, banners, Jenna Blue (Author and Designer) Barbara Greenberg (eBook and PrintPro fEditorialicient in W andord Production Track chang Services)es flyers, brochures, postcards, bookmarks, letterhead, Management of multi-title projects, [email protected] [email protected] business cards, invitations Expertise in cookbooks, sci-fi, romance [email protected] [email protected] Ask the Insiders Your Publishing Questions / NJRW 2012—p.2
“Who Does What” in a Publishing House
Editorial: This is your editor’s department. Once your editor has decided they want to buy your book, she must make the case for buying your book. Sometimes this is as easy as going to the editor in chief or the publisher. Other times it requires convincing a larger group of people. Once your ms. is approved and your deal is done, the editor becomes your biggest advocate in the company, lobbying for marketing money, publicity money, sales attention, and working with both the art department for your cover, and the design department for your interior design, to get the best possible showcase for your book. In addi- tion, s/he is the person who will help you shape and polish your manuscript, and be your liaison to the production editor and the production manager, who handle the nuts and bolts of getting your ms. ready for printing.
Managing Editorial: This department is responsible for keeping everyone on track for the overall pub- lishing scheduling of your book. Production Editorial: Part of the managing editorial department, these are the people who are re- sponsible for having your manuscript copyedited and proofread. They will work with your editor to get any editorial queries resolved, and to produce the most error-free book possible. They also work closely with Production to keep your book on schedule.
Interior Design: Here your book will be given to a designer, who will visually represent the feel and atmosphere of your book while keeping the visual readability in mind. While the editor is responsible for polishing your content, the designer is responsible for making it appealing to a reader, and easy on the eyes. Most interior designers do not do the covers for the books they design.
Copyediting and Proofreading: These jobs are most often freelanced out of the publishing house. The production editors are responsible for finding copyeditors and proofreaders, and then working with you and your editor to resolve any outstanding queries in the ms. Copyediting is done first. Copyeditors are responsible for checking grammar, punctuation, story lines, time lines and physical characteristics, along with making sure that usage is consistent throughout (capitalization, abbreviations, spelling). The copy- editor will also prepare your manuscript for design, calling out all the design elements for the designer, so that s/he knows how many elements the design will encompass. Once the copyediting and design are completed, your book will be typeset, and then go to a proofreader, who will read it against your ms. to be sure that nothing has been dropped, and that spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all correct. Like the copyeditor, proofreaders keep an eye out for discrepancies in story line, time line, and physical char- acteristic errors that might have been missed in earlier stages.
Cover Design: The Art Department is working on your cover very early on, often from unedited manu- script. Covers are done early in the process so that they will be available to sales, marketing, publicity, and sub rights to help sell your book. The front cover is done first, and often a proof is made which is used by these departments as they sell your book. The designers in this department generally work exclusively on jackets and covers, and are responsible for choosing type, finding or commissioning art, or overseeing the job when it is given to a freelance designer. Sometimes a cover design, even if it is not 100% final, is also given to the interior designer to show what direction the book is heading in.
Jenna BlueJuli (Authore Schro anded eDesigner)r DesignsBarbara Greenberg (eBookBJG and Pu Printblis hEditorialing Se andrvi cProductiones Services) [email protected] julieschroeder@m a [email protected]@bjgpublishingservices.com Ask the Insiders Your Publishing Questions / NJRW 2012—p.3
Production/Manufacturing: This group is responsible for working with all the departments to coordi- nate materials used to sell your book, like proofs and bound galleys, and for taking the raw materials and turning them into a finished book. They schedule the typesetting (either in house or at an outside type- setter), the cover printing, and the book printing and binding. They work closely with Production Editorial to keep your book on schedule.
Publicity: They work to get your books noticed in the media. They want your book and your name out and about, and are responsible for getting your book in front of people who will review it for the reading public.
Advertising/Promotion: This department is responsible for putting ads together and placing them where the consumer will see them, and for making special items for conferences and bookstores, like posters, bookmarks or shelf talkers.
Sub Rights: Now often done by your agent, is the department that sells your books to other publishers, either for paperback publication, or for magazine excerpts, or for publication in other countries.
Sales: These are the people who are responsible for getting your book into retail outlets: independent bookstores, online retailers, warehouse clubs, newsstands, drugstores, supermarkets, etc.
Helpful Links
Sabrina Jeffries’ articles on RWA.org called “A Writer’s Guide To How Traditional Publishers Work,” Parts 1 & 2 are informative, accurate, and helpful, especially in terms of what a writer can realistically expect from the various departments. (*Note: you must have an RWA login & password to access them.)
http://my.rwa.org/p/bl/ar/blogaid=58
http://my.rwa.org/p/bl/ar/blogaid=61
There’s also an informative piece by William Germano (an excerpt from his book in fact) called “What Do Publishers Do? A Chapter from Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books.”
http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/288447.html
If you are interested in the whole volume of information from William Germano, at the end of the article it reads: “For information on purchasing the book—from bookstores or here online—please go to the web- page for Getting It Published, 2nd Edition.” Here’s that link for purchase:
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo6007114.htmlJulie Schroeder Designs BJG Publishing Services Fiction and Nonfiction General Trade Fiction and Nonfiction General Trade Print and Eboooks Print and Ebooks Book covers and interiors Editing proofreading and cold reading Promotion pieces: branding Facebook art, Jenna Blue (Author and Designer) Barbara Greenberg (eBook and PrintProfi cEditorialient in W andord ProductionTrack chan Services)ges banners, flyers, brochures, postcards, bookmarks, [email protected] [email protected] of multi-title projects, letterhead, business cards, invitations Expertise in cookbooks, sci-fi, romance [email protected] [email protected] Ask the Insiders Your Publishing Questions / NJRW 2012—p.4
Proofreading Marks